Paswan blames it on government

Says the communal violence in Gorakhpur was due to the failure of the State government machinery.

Union Chemical and Steel Minister Ramvilas Paswan said on Thursday that communal violence in Gorakhpur was due to the failure of the State government machinery. The Intelligence Department as well as the district administration were not on the alert even as communal tension prevailed in the area.

“To ensure that the BJP benefited in the Vidhan Sabha elections, its MP Yogi Adityanath had instigated his supporters to stir up the violence in the neighbouring districts. Instead of the Muslim and Hindu communities, the members of the SP and the BJP were involved in the violent clashes,” Paswan alleged.

Paswan called upon the leaders of political parties to desist from politics based on communal violence. A fact-finding team of Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) would visit Gorakhpur soon and submit its report to the party leadership, he said. Political parties should ensure that the Vidhan Sabha elections passed off peacefully, he stated.

He said rather than caste and religion, the Vidhan Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh should be held on the development plank. There was need for change in Uttar Pradesh so that the State moved fast on the path of development, he said.

In reply to a question, Paswan said no party would get absolute majority in the elections. In such a situation, the small political parties would play an important role in the formation of the government. He ruled out any alliance of the LJP with the BSP or the BJP in the formation of the government.

Training his guns on the BSP, Paswan said the politics of Mayawati had done more harm than good to the Dalits and minorities. Earlier, she abused the upper castes but now she was welcoming them into the party fold. In local bodies elections, the BSP had transferred its votes to the BJP, yet now Mayawati was abusing the BJP, he said.

He was of the opinion that Dalits had started deserting the BSP and the party would lose its mass base.

The LJP would fill up the gap left by the BSP, he said and added that the LJP would raise demand for reservation in the judicial services for the Schedule Castes.

He informed that the LJP was contesting on 43 Vidhan Sabha seats in Punjab, 42 in Manipur and 21 seats in Uttarakhand. In UP, it would contest the elections in alliance with the Jan Morcha. The LJP would organise a rally in Ambedkar Maidan on February 24, he said.